Try to evaluate your way of securing your bitcoin.

[Distinctin]

I’m sure most people are aware of the ongoing wildfires in LA, which still seem to be relentless, we have a topic in connection bitcoin.

https://www.cryptopolitan.com/70-year-old-woman-loses-crypto-in-la-fire/

A 70-year-old LA woman reportedly lost her home and Bitcoin savings in wildfires after her private key, stored on paper, was destroyed.
Wildfires have burned over 15,000 acres in Southern California, displacing residents and affecting businesses, including crypto firms.
Crypto firms like Swan Bitcoin and BlockDaemon have reported significant losses as wildfires devastate Southern California businesses.

Poor grandma. This is exactly why we should always have a backup location for our hard wallets. Even if we don’t anticipate these things, they can still happen. It was not only her house that was lose but she also lost her Bitcoin investment. It’s a tough situation, but it’s a strong reminder of how important it is to have proper backups, and things should be planned ahead.

[hd49728]

I’m sure most people are aware of the ongoing wildfires in LA, which still seem to be relentless, we have a topic in connection bitcoin.

Topic on mass wildfire in Los Angeles, California is available.
Something to pounder for crypto enthusiast regarding LA wildfire

Some other topics discuss on importance of wallet backup methods resilient to catastrophes.
Keeping or recovering seed phrases during or after a natural disaster
Beirut explosion - Lesson to learn from this.

How to back up a seed phrase?
Have your backups in metal is one of best ways. Metal Bitcoin storage reviews.
If you are interested in this method, you can use this to find best brand for you.

[Russlenat]

@hd49728 recommended some great ways to safeguard crypto investments through the linked topics, but I’m not sure if a 70-year-old woman would take the time to explore those options. She may have felt secure enough using a hard wallet and storing it in a vault. Unfortunately, a catastrophic event like this happened - something no one could have predicted would be this severe.

[rodskee]

Poor grandma. This is exactly why we should always have a backup location for our hard wallets. Even if we don’t anticipate these things, they can still happen. It was not only her house that was lose but she also lost her Bitcoin investment. It’s a tough situation, but it’s a strong reminder of how important it is to have proper backups, and things should be planned ahead.

some people may call you crazy and a little too anxious for nothing but it is always better safe than sorry

we can't predict when or if things like this will ever happen so it is good to plan ahead like you said diversify the coins you are holding some people may find it more dangerous to not have all of their coins by their side at all times but you never know what can happen to you or to your house which could lead to the loss of your wallet do not be too confident and have more than one wallet stored in more than one location and keep backups of your seed phrases or passkeys and such to ensure that whatever happens you can still gain access to your bitcoins

bitcoin will not be loss but your access will be if you do not try to be careful

[dkbit98]

Easiest way is to make your bitcoin backup more secure and resistant to fire and water is by using stainless seed instead of regular paper.
Cheapest option is buying stainless regular bolt and steel washers in your local store, and than adding words with a tool and hammer.
Another good advice is to create multiple backups and place them in totally different locations.

[Smartprofit]

In such a situation, the only thing that can help you is to diversify the storage of private keys (seeds).

There is a famous proverb - "My home is my castle/fortress/citadel." However, any fortress/castle/citadel can perish or be taken by storm.

In my opinion, a true Bitcoin enthusiast must be paranoid. He must constantly ask himself questions. What happens if my house burns down, drowns, falls into the ground or is blown up? Will I be able to save my Bitcoins? What happens if when I go outside, I am arrested on a fictitious basis and spend 20 years in prison? When I am released, will I be able to regain access to my coins?

Asking yourself such questions and trying to find answers to these questions, you can create the perfect Bitcoin storage system for yourself.

[Fiatless]

Easiest way is to make your bitcoin backup more secure and resistant to fire and water is by using stainless seed instead of regular paper.
Cheapest option is buying stainless regular bolt and steel washers in your local store, and than adding words with a tool and hammer.
Another good advice is to create multiple backups and place them in totally different locations.

Multiple backups and keeping them in multiple locations that are not close to each other is very important. Natural disaster like flood, earthquakes, hurricane, etc. can make people not to even identify the former location of their homes. The Libya flood of in 2023 destroyed 25% of the city of Derna. Stainless seed can be buried or be washed into the ocean when some natural disaster occur.

[WatChe]

Easiest way is to make your bitcoin backup more secure and resistant to fire and water is by using stainless seed instead of regular paper.
Cheapest option is buying stainless regular bolt and steel washers in your local store, and than adding words with a tool and hammer.
Another good advice is to create multiple backups and place them in totally different locations.

This thing also come in my mind that I will loss custody of my coins if my only backup is lost due to some reason. You pointed out in the right direction that we must have multiple copies of our seed that are stored at different geographical locations. In case one copy is destroyed, we have another in place. For security purpose most of us do not store seed digitally rather write it on paper, it's also the simplest and safest way to secure your seed. Just as OP mentioned there can be incidents of fire that can destroy the paper.

[Synchronice]

This is why I always suggest everyone to remember seed phrases but definitely, this doesn't apply to this 70 years old woman but I think that every young person with good cognitive abilities should try and memorize seed phrases of their wallet (Of course, in this case, seed has to be 12 words and not 24. Overall, I find it stupid to have 24 words seed phrase because 12 words is already enough).

Buying a fireproof and damage proof metal backup solution is a must but it doesn't 100% solve the problem because when there is a big fire like this one, there is a high chance that when everything settles, someone might steal the plate or they won't be able to find it, so it's a good idea to remember seed phrases or have another backup on a different location.

[Z-tight]

We have discussed about how to secure BTC in cases of natural disasters, you can use a stainless steel to store your seed phrase and you should also have more than one backup of your seed phrase and store one of it in a different location, this can save you if your location is struck by a natural disaster. However, in situations like this, you will be lucky to save your life and it will be of higher priority than your funds.

[tabas]

Poor grandma. This is exactly why we should always have a backup location for our hard wallets. Even if we don’t anticipate these things, they can still happen. It was not only her house that was lose but she also lost her Bitcoin investment. It’s a tough situation, but it’s a strong reminder of how important it is to have proper backups, and things should be planned ahead.

That really sucks and we hate it to see someone lose their savings because of that devastation. Each of us needs to find ways to keep our assets and private keys. Back-ups are important but not through the cloud but through physical ways of keeping it. Not to be bias, I hope that all of the people that have been affected by wild fire in there will recover and start again with their lives. I know that it's tough for most of them that don't know how to do it from the beginning but as long as they live, there's still hope.

[jayoh]

In terms of protection from fire, a fire proof safe or (even safer, since some safes can only protect against fire for so long) etching your keys on metal.

[Saint-loup]

If some big whales lose their Bitcoins like that, it could increase price if the information become public. I've heard those destructive wild fires are mainly hitting wealthy neighborhoods of Hollywood and ones of the most expensive areas of all US, there are certainly rich businessmen holding large amount of cryptos living there. I don't hope that for them of course, but if they lose their bags like that and it's publicly known soon after, it could push up the price to some extent.

[ovcijisir]

I'm afraid I don't have good backup system. My seed words are on regular piece of paper. Previously I had them on flash drive, but then I found out that flash drives are not considered permanent storage. Somewhere I found information that they can lose data over time.

Your thread is good reminder to me to take care of my seed and to create backups.

[AmoreJaz]

Poor grandma. This is exactly why we should always have a backup location for our hard wallets. Even if we don’t anticipate these things, they can still happen. It was not only her house that was lose but she also lost her Bitcoin investment. It’s a tough situation, but it’s a strong reminder of how important it is to have proper backups, and things should be planned ahead.

That really sucks and we hate it to see someone lose their savings because of that devastation. Each of us needs to find ways to keep our assets and private keys. Back-ups are important but not through the cloud but through physical ways of keeping it. Not to be bias, I hope that all of the people that have been affected by wild fire in there will recover and start again with their lives. I know that it's tough for most of them that don't know how to do it from the beginning but as long as they live, there's still hope.

That's my mantra in life as well - "as long as we live, there's hope." If you give up easily in this life, you will fail. But if you will continue, sooner or later, you will just remember those dark days and be grateful that you have surpassed that stage.
And when it comes to say back-up of what we have, we have alternative options being considered like how are you storing your funds, whether in crypto or regular fiat. Each mode of funds has their own way of storing and keeping for safety purposes. It is your prerogative how you will keep them for your own security.

[nakamura12]

Yes, it is true that it's better if you have backup of your private key, seed phrase in different location in case something happens to your house. It really sucks when you work hard for it only to lose it due to the natural disaster. It's also important that a person shouldn't tell anyone about his/her holdings as to avoid getting robbed or stolen because there are news about it. Using paper to write private key would also be okay if you know where to store it like put it in a box something that won't melt or burn right away or buried in land somewhere in your backyard something like that.

[PrivacyG]

Living in a hot area where wildfires have been the norm for years and holding your stash on a piece of paper is insane.  I would generally argue it is pretty unlikely to be the victim of a wildfire, but in California that is something to definitely consider.  At that point, the grand mother was playing roulette with her stash.

Even if she had no time to save her Seed before running away, she could have still gone back to the location of the house and likely find the Seed if she were to store it on washers.  This is valid even if she did not bury it into the ground!  Because even in the hottest and most extreme wildfires, the temperature STILL does not reach the melting point of steel.

Unfortunate and I am sorry for the grandmother but this was all on her.

[Taskford]

I’m sure most people are aware of the ongoing wildfires in LA, which still seem to be relentless, we have a topic in connection bitcoin.

https://www.cryptopolitan.com/70-year-old-woman-loses-crypto-in-la-fire/

A 70-year-old LA woman reportedly lost her home and Bitcoin savings in wildfires after her private key, stored on paper, was destroyed.
Wildfires have burned over 15,000 acres in Southern California, displacing residents and affecting businesses, including crypto firms.
Crypto firms like Swan Bitcoin and BlockDaemon have reported significant losses as wildfires devastate Southern California businesses.

Poor grandma. This is exactly why we should always have a backup location for our hard wallets. Even if we don’t anticipate these things, they can still happen. It was not only her house that was lose but she also lost her Bitcoin investment. It’s a tough situation, but it’s a strong reminder of how important it is to have proper backups, and things should be planned ahead.

I guess there are more unreported cases like that and people really need to evaluate their way of securing their keys and try to know what possible risk to get in their places so that they would know how to take care well those important details they have.

To bad for old woman to lose his Bitcoin on unfortunate incident happen in LA since that's huge money gone for a tragic incident happened in their place. Hopefully they bounce back and learn on how to secure well their keys especially they already try those incident.

Is there any news about what happen to old woman? If she's doing well despite of those tragic incident happen then everything still fine. Since property and money can recover but life provably won't so better try again next time and be more careful dealing with their online funds or investment.

[2Pizza410000BTC]

I’m sure most people are aware of the ongoing wildfires in LA, which still seem to be relentless, we have a topic in connection bitcoin.

https://www.cryptopolitan.com/70-year-old-woman-loses-crypto-in-la-fire/

A 70-year-old LA woman reportedly lost her home and Bitcoin savings in wildfires after her private key, stored on paper, was destroyed.
Wildfires have burned over 15,000 acres in Southern California, displacing residents and affecting businesses, including crypto firms.
Crypto firms like Swan Bitcoin and BlockDaemon have reported significant losses as wildfires devastate Southern California businesses.

Poor grandma. This is exactly why we should always have a backup location for our hard wallets. Even if we don’t anticipate these things, they can still happen. It was not only her house that was lose but she also lost her Bitcoin investment. It’s a tough situation, but it’s a strong reminder of how important it is to have proper backups, and things should be planned ahead.

I would like to first express my condolences to the people affected by the wildfires in California. This is a sudden event. There is probably nothing anyone can do about it.

I feel so sorry for the poor grandma because she lost everything in this fire and is completely destitute. However, she was a little less careful about holding Bitcoin because if she had Bitcoin, the seed of the wallet where she kept her Bitcoin should not have been written on paper but rather it should have been written on a metal object or she should have used a hardware wallet.

Every Bitcoin user should be very careful about holding Bitcoin, but the most important thing is to store the seed of the Bitcoin wallet very safely so that it can be recovered later even if it is damaged by various natural disasters.

[Davidvictorson]

Easiest way is to make your bitcoin backup more secure and resistant to fire and water is by using stainless seed instead of regular paper.
Cheapest option is buying stainless regular bolt and steel washers in your local store, and than adding words with a tool and hammer.
Another good advice is to create multiple backups and place them in totally different locations.

This guide  Securing Your Seed Phrase with Washers written over two years ago by  fillippone will always be gold.
I encourage everyone to go and read it. It is a simple DIY. I find DIY fun.